The Twilight 25, Round 6: Tell Me About Mommy
by SqueakyZorro
Summary: Renesmee is insatiably curious, and one topic is definitely her favorite. The Cullens — and a few others in the know — recount their favorite memories of Bella for the child they love. Angsty fluff/fluffy angst, if there's such a thing.
1. Chapter 1 Prompt 18: meadow

**The Twilight 25 Round 6**

**Tell Me About Mommy**

**by SqueakyZorro**

Summary: Renesmee is insatiably curious, and one topic is definitely her favorite. The Cullens—and a few others in the know—recount their favorite memories of Bella for the child they love. Be warned: not just fluff; some angst, too.

Chapter 1

_Prompt 18: meadow_

I lay in bed under my light blanket. Even at my age—chronologically six months but appearing like a five-year-old human child—I understood it was more for emotional comfort than physical; with my body temperature, I was never cold. After a day of playing hard with Uncle Emmett and my Jacob, I was ready for sleep, and Daddy was here to tuck me in.

I loved bedtime stories from Daddy. He knew so very many stories from all over the world. He was even good at making them up. Unless I asked for a particular favorite, I never knew where his tale might take me.

Tonight, though, I had a request.

"Tell me about Mommy."

Daddy raised his eyebrows. I saw his love for her shine in his eyes, even as a shadow passed over them.

"What would you like to know?" His velvet voice was tender.

"Umm..." I thought hard for a minute. "When did you know you loved each other? I mean, wasn't that weird, a vampire and a human falling in love?"

He chuckled. "Very weird."

"Well? Tell me."

A strange half-smile appeared on his face. "As you wish." We both giggled at the reference to _The Princess Bride_, my very favorite movie, and I snuggled next to him to listen.

"Your mommy and I first knew we loved each other one warm, sunny Saturday afternoon, in a spring meadow filled with flowers."

I smiled. I liked how this story began.

"I'd been driving her crazy for months. I told her we shouldn't be friends, but I couldn't stay away from her. I kept her from getting hit by a van, but I wouldn't tell her how I did it." Daddy laughed. "If she could have, I think she'd have killed me when I blocked her car in the high school parking lot."

I didn't laugh. I was confused. "Why did you do that?"

He stopped laughing, but he was smiling. "I could hear one of the other boys thinking about asking her to a dance, and I desperately wanted to know what she'd say to him. By blocking her car, I gave him a chance to ask her, and I was close enough to hear what she answered."

"She said no," I said firmly.

Daddy nodded. "That's right; she said no. To every boy in that school...But she said 'yes' to me." His voice was very quiet. Then he reached into his pocket. "I still carry this with me—a token of the first time she said 'yes' and sat with me at lunch."

He handed me a small metal circle. I realized it was the top from a bottle of lemonade. "Is this what she was drinking that day?"

"Yes." He paused. "But you asked about when we knew—when we both knew."

"Yes!" I settled to hear the story.

"Well, that dance I mentioned, she didn't want to go. She told everyone that she was going to Seattle for the day. I offered to drive her, and she accepted—even though she didn't like what I said about her truck."

I giggled. I'd heard about Mommy's old red truck from Uncle Emmett and Jake.

"Between the day I asked her and the day of the dance, though, she went to LaPush, and Jacob told her enough that she guessed what I was. She asked me if I would burn up in the sun." We both laughed at that.

"I told her no, but we couldn't go out in the sun where we could be seen. When Aunt Alice said it would be sunny the day of the dance, we decided not to go to Seattle; instead, we'd go where she could see me in the sunlight without worrying about other humans."

I put the pieces together. "You went to the meadow so she could see you?"

He nodded slowly. "She was so lovely, so brave," he whispered, lost in his memories.

After a moment, I took his hand. "Don't be sad, Daddy. You can tell me another story if you want." I hated when his face looked like that. He mostly tried to hide it from me, but I knew he missed Mommy a lot.

He refocused on me and smiled. "No, sweetheart, it's okay. I want to talk about her."

He squeezed my hand and shifted on the bed so I was cuddled against his shoulder.

"I was so worried I would hurt her, even perhaps kill her. A part of me wanted to scare her away, so she'd be safe, but I wanted to be with her every minute...I couldn't stay away. She said it was the same for her. She knew she was risking her life, just being alone with me, but the pull, the bond between us was already so strong..."

His voice trailed off before he grinned suddenly. "I really did try to scare her, though—running so fast she couldn't even see me move, throwing trees around the meadow—and she was scared, but she wouldn't go."

I held my breath, waiting to hear what happened next. I tried to imagine how I would feel, a human who was used to thinking that vampires were just legends, seeing one in front of me and telling me how good I smelled to him. I was pretty sure I'd be running as fast as I could.

"She just sat there and watched me, her eyes huge."

He kissed my forehead and looked at me. "Such beautiful brown eyes, just like yours."

I smiled. I liked that my eyes were like hers.

"So I came back across the meadow to where she was sitting, and we confessed our feelings for each other. I said, 'You are the most important thing to me now. The most important thing to me ever.'"

I sighed. It sounded so romantic.

"And she said she felt the same way. Then we looked at each other and laughed—it was so utterly impossible, yet we were so happy. I held her, and she held me—the closest I'd been to a human since my change. It felt...amazing."

He sighed in remembered pleasure, and I could almost feel the warmth.

"Later, we kissed. And that felt even better...as though our souls touched, and I didn't even believe I had a soul then."

I was getting sleepy, but I thought about that: souls touching. It sounded wonderful.

"We knew it didn't matter how weird it was, or how hard it would be. We loved each other. In that moment, we knew we belonged together."

I could picture it, and I put my hand up to Daddy's cheek, showing him the images in my head. "Like that?"

He hugged me close. "Just like that, sweetie." Then he loosened his arms, laid me down on the bed, and pulled the blanket just so.

"Sleep well, baby. I love you."

I could feel my eyelids getting heavy. "Love you, too. G'night."

"Goodnight, my angel."


	2. Chapter 2 Prompt 6: classroom

**The Twilight 25 Round 6**

**Tell Me About Mommy**

**by SqueakyZorro**

Summary: Renesmee is insatiably curious, and one topic is definitely her favorite. The Cullens—and a few others in the know—recount their favorite memories of Bella for the child they love. Angsty fluff/fluffy angst (if there is such a thing).

Chapter 2

_Prompt 6: classroom_

I was pouting, and I didn't care.

I lay on my stomach, my chin propped in my hands, as I watched the closing credits of the TV show I'd been watching, a TV show featuring a group of school kids. Every episode seemed to involve a lot of friends having fun. Even if it wasn't always fun, they had each other to work out whatever the problem of the week was.

All I had was a group of old vampires.

"I wish I could go to school," I complained.

A roar of laughter startled me, and I flipped over to see Uncle Emmett with a huge grin on his face.

"What?" I demanded.

"School? Why the he—"

"Emmett!" Grandma Esme's voice came from upstairs.

"—eck would you want to go to school? Most boring place in the world, especially after you've done it a dozen or so times."

I sat up and folded my arms. "Well, _I_ haven't done it a dozen times. I like learning different stuff with Grandpa Carlisle and Uncle Jasper and everyone, but...I never get to talk to anyone my own age."

"Huh." Uncle Emmett looked stumped for a minute. "Hey, how about Claire? You play with her."

I heaved a big sigh. "She's barely potty trained."

He snorted.

"I mean kids like me."

He surveyed me sympathetically. "Sorry, Ness, there are no other kids like you. You could go to school, but you wouldn't find what you're looking for."

I knew he was right, and that just upset me more. I looked down, blinking back tears. I was glad Uncle Jasper was out hunting with Aunt Alice and Daddy; no way could I have hid this from him.

I soon realized I couldn't even hide it from Uncle Emmett.

Before I sensed him move, he dashed forward, scooped me up, and threw me in the air. I couldn't help the excited squeal that escaped me—it was a good thing this room had a two-story ceiling. I landed back in his arms, and he gave me a genuine Emmett McCarty bear hug.

"Aw, don't be sad, Ness; you're a miracle. I know it gets lonely. Claire looks about your age, but you're way ahead of her in everything else, and we don't change at all while I can see changes in you every hour." He shifted me in his arms so he could look me in the eye. "But you're the most loved girl in the world, and don't you forget it."

"I know." I sniffled. "I just wish there was someone else like me. I thought maybe in school, I'd make some friends, you know, that weren't also family and hadn't been around for a century." I tried to tease him, but I had a feeling my smile wasn't fooling him.

I decided to ask something I'd been wondering about. "Did Mommy like school? Did she have lots of friends?"

I could tell he was surprised by my question, but he looked thoughtful. "Well, that's two different questions, you know, and they have different answers."

He sat on the couch with me on his lap. As soon as I was comfortable, I prompted, "Different how?"

"She liked school a lot, from what I could tell, but she liked the academic part—except maybe math. Boy, she hated trig and calculus! As for friends, she was a pretty quiet person when she was in a group; it took her a while to warm up and get comfortable enough to let her real, kickass self come out. She had a few really good friends—Jake and Alice, and a human called Angela, and then a lot of kids she knew but weren't really friends. Some of them came to the wedding, and you could tell they only came to check out the Cullen house and make nasty jokes about your mom and dad marrying so young."

That was weird. "Why would they make jokes about that?"

He snickered. "'Cause humans only marry that young for one reason."

Grandma Esme's voice floated down to us. "Emmett, don't you dare say anything else on that topic, you hear?"

He seemed abashed and said, "Yes, ma'am."

I frowned. I thought Mommy, since she was a normal human, would have had lots of friends that she had stuff in common with. This didn't make any sense.

"Was it just because she fell in love with Daddy, and she didn't want to make it difficult for him?"

Uncle Emmett pursed his lips as he considered, but then he shook his head. "Nah. That might have been part of it, after she and your dad hooked up, but she was like that even before they met."

His expression was serious—very un-Uncle-Emmett-like—as he continued. "See, just because you have some things in common, even things you'd think would be big, like being the same species—" he chuckled—"don't always matter as much as you'd think. Your dad told me she said she never felt like she belonged with the other high school kids. It's obviously exaggerated for you—you truly are unique—but everyone feels like that sometimes: no one knows, no one understands me."

"Really? Mommy felt like that, too?" For some reason, that thought was amazingly comforting. It wasn't just me.

He chuckled. "Hell, yeah." We heard nothing from upstairs; Grandma Esme must have given up on correcting his language.

He sobered. "She felt like she was clumsy and awkward, too shy to talk to most people. She didn't really see herself very clearly. She thought of herself as plain, nothing special. But she was the best little sister I could ever have imagined. She was smart, funny, and pretty as a picture. And she was the most...generous, giving person I've ever known."

His voice sounded funny as he finished, like something was choking him. When I pulled back to get a better look at him, his face was all scrunched up. I threw my arms around his neck and gave him my version of a bear hug. "You miss her, too, huh?"

"Oh, you bet, every day." His voice started to sound more normal. "But she left you with us, and you're just...the best thing that ever happened to this family."

I felt myself blush and looked down. He put a finger under my chin and lifted my face up. "None of that, now." He grinned. "Hey, it's not like you can't find what you need in your own family. We got adolescence _covered_. Take-everything-seriously emo crap: your dad. Mood swings that make no sense at all: Aunt Rose—but don't tell her I said that," he cautioned, and I giggled. "Preoccupation with fashion and makeup: Aunt Alice. And of course, juvenile humor and reckless behavior?" He took a bow. "At your service."

I let out a belly laugh, and I could hear Grandma Esme chuckling upstairs, too.

"Now, let's forget that crap they put on and use the TV as God intended: to play video games."

I felt a leap of excitement. I loved Uncle Emmett. "You're going down in PvZ, dude!"

"No way, those zombies can't touch a vamp. You're the one in trouble. Bet your brain looks mighty tasty..."

I giggled as he set up the game and handed me a controller. "That's just gross."

"We'll see..."

The low, gravelly voice was heard from the speakers, "Brainsss...," and we started to play.


	3. Chapter 3 Prompt 20: parking lot

**The Twilight 25 Round 6**

**Tell Me About Mommy**

**by SqueakyZorro**

Summary: Renesmee is insatiably curious, and one topic is definitely her favorite. The Cullens—and a few others in the know—recount their favorite memories of Bella for the child they love. Angsty fluff/fluffy angst (if there is such a thing).

_~TT25R6~_

Chapter 3

_Prompt 20: parking lot_

The brush pulling through my bronze curls should have felt soothing.

It was part of my evening routine: dinner with Grandma Esme (even though I still didn't really like human food very much), brushing and girl talk with Aunt Rosalie, stories with Daddy, and then sleep. Often Aunt Alice joined in the girl talk, but tonight she and Uncle Jasper were out somewhere. I normally enjoyed the pampering, but I just couldn't settle down.

My mind kept repeating what I'd overheard Jacob say. We'd spent most of the afternoon playing, and then he'd brought me home while he went on patrol with his pack. As he'd crossed the yard to the forest, where he'd phase, he'd exchanged a few words with Uncle Emmett, who was on his way into the house.

"_Is Rose in there?" Emmett asked._

"_Yeah. She homed in as soon as Ness walked in the door, but then she stalked off when I tried out my new blonde joke." Jacob laughed._

_Emmett moaned. "Dude! Why'd you have to get her in a bad mood? I was gonna get lucky tonight."_

_I heard a wolfy snort. "She'll be fine. She'll be in the kitchen before you know it, and Ness'll soften her up."_

"_She can't resist that kid." I could picture Emmett's grin._

_Jake laughed again. "Who can?"_

"_No one around here, that's for sure." There was a pause, and then Emmett continued. "Funny, if you'd asked me two years ago whether Rose would have anything to do with _anything_ about Bella, I'd have said you were nuts."_

"_Yeah, she sure hated Bella's ass."_

I was stunned. I'd barely spoken while Grandma Esme made my dinner. When Rosalie pulled me onto her lap for our nightly ritual, I let her, hoping it would relax me like usual. It wasn't working.

Had Rosalie really hated my mommy?

That couldn't be right.

All my memories of them together showed them to be close, and I knew Aunt Rosalie, more than anyone, had helped Mommy before I was born. She wasn't the type of person to fake being nice to someone she hated, so she couldn't have hated Mommy.

Could she?

But Jacob never lied. And Uncle Emmett seemed to think it, too. At least, he hadn't corrected Jacob.

I loved Aunt Rosalie more than anyone but Daddy and Jacob—and Mommy, even though she couldn't be with me. Was that right, if Aunt Rosalie didn't like her? Was I a bad daughter if I loved someone who hated her?

Should I even let her brush my hair, much less let myself enjoy it?

I was afraid I was going to cry, so I put my hand up to stop the brush and jumped down from Aunt Rosalie's lap.

"Nessie? What's wrong, honey?" I could hear the concern in her voice. I'd never behaved like this.

I stood in front of her, looking into her golden eyes. I couldn't pretend nothing was wrong, and I needed to know the truth.

"What did you think of Mommy when you first met her?" My voice trembled.

Aunt Rosalie sat back quickly, like I'd slapped her. "What?"

I sniffled. "Did you hate her?"

Her mouth firmed into a line, and her brows drew together in a frown. "No, of course I didn't hate her." She sighed. "But I didn't like her, either. Not at first, and not for a long time."

My lips quivered. "But...why?"

She tilted her head and looked at me. "It's a little hard to explain; I'm not sure you can understand."

"I'm really smart," I said.

A smile lit up her beautiful face, and she chuckled. "Yes, you certainly are. Okay, I guess I can try." She held our her arms. "Can you come back, though? I miss you."

I ran to her and climbed back in her lap. She hugged me close. After a moment, she began.

"The first time I saw your mommy was in the high school cafeteria. I noticed Edward looking at her, and I looked, too, to see what he found so interesting. And...I just couldn't see what it was about her. I didn't pay a lot of attention, and all I saw was an average human. When he said he couldn't hear her, I thought that's all it was—he was confused and fascinated because he'd never met anyone he couldn't read."

I frowned. "You couldn't see why he'd love her?"

She chuckled. "At that point, even your Daddy didn't know he'd love her. He just knew he couldn't stop watching her. Then, when he almost exposed us to stop that van...I was terrified."

I nodded. Daddy had told me about the van, and one of the first things I learned, when I was only days old, was to _keep the secret._

"Then, when he realized he was falling for her, that she was his mate...well, I guess you'd think I'd be happy for him, but I was still scared."

That surprised me. "Really? Why would Mommy scare you? A human couldn't hurt you."

She smiled sadly. "Not physically, no. But if the Volturi found out that a vampire was getting that close to a human...the whole family could have been destroyed. Between what I'd heard from Jasper about how they handled the southern wars, and what I'd heard from the Denalis about their mother...well, I just wanted the Volturi as far away from us as possible."

I remembered what I'd learned from Uncle Jasper about vampire history: the southern newborn wars for territory and how the Volturi had gone in and destroyed scores of vampires, any who they'd suspected of involvement, and the immortal children, who'd been ruthlessly cut down along with their creators and, again, anyone suspected of involvement. I guessed I could understand why she'd fear them, but...

"Would they really have destroyed the whole family over one human? Even if Daddy loved her, and she loved him?"

She snorted. "They wouldn't have thought twice. The only ones who might have stood a chance at being recruited rather than destroyed would have been Edward and Alice, maybe Jasper. And Carlisle, I guess, since Aro likes him, and possibly Esme, if Aro wanted to keep Carlisle happy. But Emmett and me? We're not gifted, we're not old friends—we'd have been ash before you could snap your fingers."

I was shocked. I was so used to thinking of Aunt Rosalie as one of the strongest people I knew; it was strange to think that she could be scared, too.

"So you didn't hate her; you were just scared of what might happen?" I asked hesitantly.

"Pretty much," she answered with a hug. "And it wasn't just the Volturi. I didn't see how a human could really love one of us, and I was afraid she'd break your dad's heart. As much as he annoys me sometimes—" we shared a giggle—"I love him and didn't want to lose him. It wasn't until she saved him—while still a human—that I started to realize how much she loved him back."

That was another story I'd heard about, a little—Mommy going to save Daddy when Daddy thought she'd been killed, but I had a feeling there was more to it than I knew. Someday I wanted to know all of it, but just then, I was more curious about something else. "So why does Jake think you hated her?"

A fierce frown darkened her face. "What has that mutt been telling you? I have no idea where he gets any strange notions in that furry head."

I gave her a stern look. "Aunt Rosalie, what did we agree about Jacob?"

She rolled her eyes and sighed, muttering, "No calling him a mutt."

"That's right. You can be polite," I said firmly.

"It's not like he's here; I'm not being rude to his face..." I could tell she was faking a whine to make me laugh, and it was working. I had to try hard not to smile.

"No. No 'mutt.'" A giggle escaped. "But here, let me show you." I placed my hand on her cheek and replayed for her what I'd overheard.

For the first time, she looked troubled instead of mad, and her voice was uncertain. "Well, I can certainly see why that upset you, sweetie. I'm sorry you felt so bad."

Now I was worried again. "So..._did_ you hate her?"

"No. I never _hated_ her. I wasn't very nice to her for a while, but I never _hated_ her. I'll tell you exactly what I told her: I envied her."

I was shocked. "You were _jealous_ of her? And you two talked about this?"

She nodded.

"But why?"

A sad expression crossed her face. "Why does anyone envy someone else? I wanted what she had: I wanted to be human, with my life before me, a chance to have a happy life with children and grandchildren, growing old with the man I love. I didn't hate _her, _but I hated that she wanted to throw all of that away to be a vampire."

Confused, I said, "But Aunt Rose, she didn't want to be a vampire just because. She just wanted to be with Daddy. How could she grow old with the man she loved when he was never going to grow old at all? Being a vampire was the only way to stay with him."

She smiled wistfully. "That's almost exactly what she said. She just wanted your daddy. Nothing else mattered."

I thought about all of this for a few minutes, absently playing with a strand of Aunt Rose's hair as I leaned back against her.

"But in all of _my_ memories of you together, you're friends. Did something happen?" I looked up to see her response.

Her smile was brilliant. "_You_ happened. She asked for my help when she found she was carrying you. I was so honored she trusted me, especially when I hadn't been nice to her. When I saw how much she loved you, right from the start, I realized we had more in common than I'd thought. We got to know each other a lot better, and we became friends—no, more than that. We were sisters."

I nodded and said slowly, "You don't pretend, do you? If you hadn't really liked her..."

She agreed. "I would have been polite to my brother's mate, nothing more."

"So you really did love each other."

"Yes, we really did."

A comforting warmth spread through me. I couldn't really explain why I'd been so upset or why I now felt so reassured, but it was true. I snuggled in a bit closer, and her arms closed around me protectively.

"I'm so sorry you were upset, sweetie. But you can ask me anything. I won't lie to you."

"I know."

"Do you want me to brush your hair?"

"No. Let's just sit until it's time for Daddy's story."

I felt a little squeeze. "You bet, honey. That sounds perfect."

_~TT25R6~_

**A/N: **I'm getting some questions about what happened to Bella. All in good time, folks. *evil grin*

Oh, and for the curious, here's the blonde joke Jacob told Rosalie at the beginning of this chapter:

Q: Why do blondes smile during lightning storms?  
A: They think they're having their picture taken.

Thanks so much for reading!


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